Claremont, Calif. (October 7, 2013) This week in Sagehens Athletics saw the Women’s Soccer team maintain its share of first place in the SCIAC with two road wins, setting up a big home game with Cal Lutheran on Wednesday, while the Men’s Cross Country team was the top Division III finisher (second overall) at its host invitational.
Paul Messana ’17 earned a top 10 finish at the Men’s Cross Country team’s host invitational, helping the Sagehens finish 2nd overall.
Women’s Soccer defeated Whittier 1-0 on Wednesday on an early goal, and then edged Redlands 2-1 on Saturday, breaking a tie in the 72nd minute. Nicola Ying Fry ’16 earned a start against Redlands, while Mary Stafford ’16, Alyssa Kim ’17 and Aminah Luqman ’17 The Sagehens improved to 7-1-1 with their 2-0 week, including 5-1 in the SCIAC, setting up a first-place battle with co-leader Cal Lutheran on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Men’s Soccer, meanwhile, hosts Caltech on Monday (4 p.m.) and Whittier on Saturday (11 a.m.) after tying Cal Lutheran 1-1 on Saturday.
Men’s Cross Country had three of the top 10 finishers and seven of the top 25 as it finished second out of 13 teams at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Saturday, behind only Division II Cal Poly Pomona. Paul Messana ’17 finished in tenth place overall, third on the Sagehens and fifth among Division III competitors, with a time of 25:43.6. The Women’s Cross Country team came in sixth place, with Camille Matonis ’15 leading the Sagehens with a 20th place finish (23:35.7).
In addition to the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country Invitational, the Sagehens also hosted the Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament on Friday and Saturday with 16 matches at Haldeman Pool. The Sagehens defeated Fresno Pacific 11-6 and gave No. 10 Loyola Marymount a tough battle before falling 12-7 (the score was tied 5-5 in the second half), while dropping a nail-biter to Johns Hopkins 12-11 and falling to No. 7 Long Beach State 19-6. Jarrod Gaut ’14 had the top-scoring effort of the weekend with four goals against Johns Hopkins, while Stephen Vint ’15 had three against Fresno Pacific and two against Long Beach State for a five-goal day on Saturday. Austin Strong ’15 had 14 saves against No. 10 Loyola Marymount, and Timothy Hardman ’17 added a highlight-reel goal against Long Beach State, flipping a shot blindly over a drawn-out goalie and into the empty net.
Volleyball had a 2-1 week, earning a big road win over No. 20 CMS in three sets, all of which were right down to the wire (27-25, 26-24, 25-23). The Sagehens rallied from a 19-11 deficit in the first game, and a 23-18 deficit in the third game (closing out with a 7-0 run) and sealed the win with a block from Ellen Yamasaki ’15. Yamasaki also had seven kills in a win over Redlands on Friday and eight kills in a 3-1 loss at Chapman on Saturday.
Football opened SCIAC play with a home loss to Cal Lutheran. Nicholas LaCivita ’15 had five tackles on defense, while Colton Coss ’17 and Brandon Zemp ’17 saw their first significant playing time, with Coss playing almost the entire game on the offensive line and Zemp returning three kickoffs for 67 yards. The Sagehens will be back in action at home this Saturday for a 1 p.m. game against Chapman.
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This Week’s Schedule
Home Events In Bold
Monday, Oct. 7
Men’s Soccer (H) vs. Caltech, 4 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Women’s Soccer (H) vs. Cal Lutheran, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 10
Women’s Tennis at ITA Nationals (Fort Myers, Fla.), TBA
Friday, Oct. 11
Volleyball (H) vs. Kenyon, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 12
Men’s Water Polo vs. No. 1 UCLA, 8 a.m. (at UC Irvine)
Men’s Soccer (H) vs. Whittier, 11 a.m.
Volleyball (H) vs. Whittier, 11 a.m.
Football (H) vs. Chapman, 1 p.m.
Volleyball (H) vs. Susquehanna, 1 p.m.
Women’s Soccer at La Verne, 7 p.m.
Men’s Water Polo vs. TBA (at UC Irvine)
Sunday, Oct. 13
Men’s Water Polo vs. TBA (at UC Irvine)
